The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook

100 The Roman Army
against archers, and attacks by massed and sometimes armoured cavalry,
especially in the context of warfare in Parthia (Campbell 1987:24–7).
160 Dio, 49. 30
The nature and construction of the ‘tortoise’ (testudo) are as follows.
The baggage animals, lightly-armed troops, and cavalry are positioned
in the centre of the army. The infantry who use the oblong, curved, and
cylindrical shields, are drawn up on the outside, forming a rectangular
shape; facing outwards, and holding their weapons in front of them,
they enclose the other troops. The rest who have flat shields are packed
together in the centre and raise their shields over their heads and over
the heads of all the others, so that nothing except shields can be seen
throughout the entire formation, and all the men are protected from
missiles by the close-packed arrangement… They use it in two ways.
Either, they advance to make an assault on a fort, and often enable
some men to climb the very walls, or, when surrounded by archers they
all kneel down together, and even the horses are trained to kneel or lie
down, and therefore give the enemy the impression that they are beaten;
then as the enemy approach they suddenly spring up and throw them
into confusion.
161 Josephus, Jewish War 3. 166–8
Vespasian now positioned his artillery pieces, of which in total there
were one hundred and sixty, in a circle round the place and gave orders
to shoot at the defenders on the wall. (Section 167) In one great barrage
the catapults fired bolts, the stone-throwers hurled stones weighing
nearly a hundredweight, there were fire-brands and showers of arrows,
making it impossible for the Jews to man the ramparts or the interior
area which was within range of the missiles. (Section 168) For a throng
of Arab archers and all the javelin men and slingers joined in the
bombardment with the artillery.
Josephus is here describing the siege of Jotapata during the Jewish revolt.
162 Josephus, Jewish War 7. 304–20 (extracts)
When the Roman general had built a wall all round the exterior of the
place, as I described above, and exercised the strictest vigilance to make
sure that no one escaped, he turned his attention to the siege. He
discovered that there was only one location capable of sustaining
earthworks. (Section 305) For behind the tower which controlled the